Green Bay Packers rookie linebacker Quay Walker played in all 17 games and was on the field for 816 total defensive snaps during his rookie season.
At times, Walker looked like a game-changing force with future Pro Bowl potential as the ideal NFL three-down linebacker. During others, the rookie looked very much like a young, inconsistent and immature player with combustible traits.
Walker’s rookie season was a terrific combination of good and bad. Let’s dig in.
The Good
– Walker produced 121 total tackles, tying A.J. Hawk’s rookie record and becoming just the third rookie since 1987 to produce 100 or more tackles. He ranked second among rookies and 30th in the NFL overall.
– Walker led all rookies in “stops,” a metric used by Pro Football Focus to track tackles constituting a failure by the offense. He produced 41. His 24 “stops” against the run ranked second among rookies (Jalen Pitre); his 17 against the pass also ranked second (Kader Kohou).
– Walker produced the third-best coverage grade among rookie linebackers. His seven forced incompletions were the most among rookie linebackers and the 10th most among all rookies.
– Walker’s three forced fumbles led all rookies and was tied for sixth among all players.
– Walker’s 12 pressures tied for the most among non-edge rusher rookies. He also had 1.5 sacks and four QB hits.
– Walker had 10 games with multiple “stops,” including five with four or more. His disruption showed up frequently.
– Over 405 coverage snaps, Walker gave up just 31 catches on 46 targets for 304 yards.
– Walker was on the field for 70 percent of the snaps in 14 of 17 games.
– Over a span between Week 9 and Week 15, Walker had a tackle for loss in four of six games.
– Walker’s 63-yard fumble recovery in Philadelphia was the second-longest in the NFL in 2022.
The Bad
– Walker’s run defense grade was the second-worst among rookie linebackers. His issues diagnosing played a role in the Packers giving up 5.0 yards per carry against the run this season.
– Walker was ejected from two games (at Buffalo, vs. Detroit) after making unnecessary contact with a non-uniformed member of the opposition. On-field discipline issues are a concern entering Year 2.
– Walker, a sure tackler at Georgia, missed 13 tackles, the seventh most among rookies. His nightmare game came in Philadelphia (four misses). It wasn’t a massive problem given his number of overall attempts.
– He was nothing if not wildly inconsistent. He had five games with a grade above 70.0 at PFF and four games under 40.0.
